gmitchs

My wife and I honeymooned in northern Italy in 2002 and used trains to get around. Toward the end of the trip we needed to get from Bergamo to Varenna. Varenna was our top destination and we had done much research about where to stay and where to eat. As we started to board the train we noticed and older couple with two very large bags. They were having some difficulty getting them up into the car. I offered to help and eventually got their bags to their seating area. They were very appreciative and we went our separate ways.

We needed to transfer trains at Lecco and as we were getting ready to get off the train I noticed the couple were also getting off. I headed over and joked that they should hire us a valets for their trip. We got the bags off and I asked where they were going. Varenna, of course. I got their bags onto the next train and we sat together and talked about our travels. We told them we were honeymooning and had really been looking forward to a few nights in Varenna. Turns out we were both staying at the Hotel du Lac. They were joining up with another couple and would spend a few days in Varenna before heading to Milan. I helped them off the train in Varenna and got their bags to a taxi for the short ride to the hotel.

They were just finishing checking in when we got there and they invited us to their room for drinks later that evening. They were staying in one of the lower floor rooms that had a fabulous outdoor patio overlooking the lake. Their friends had joined them and we all enjoyed some amazing wine and cheese and shared more stories. We had made reservations for dinner at a highly regarded restaurant whose name escapes me, so we left the party feeling very thankful to this couple for having done something nice for us. The dinner was nice but I didn't see why it had been rated so highly.

The next day we had asked the hotel for their recommendation for that nights dinner and they didn't hesitate. Il Cavatappi. They must recommend it to all their guests because when we showed up there were our new friends. Il Cavatappi was a very small restaurant with no more than 5 tables. It was owned and staffed by a husband and wife team. Our friends invited us to join them at their table and we proceeded to have one of the best meals I have ever had. Everything was prepared and served by the husband with a short story about each course. The wife supplied the wine and kept our glasses full. Truly a magical meal. When the bill was delivered our friends insisted on paying and that we should consider it a wedding gift. We were blown away that these 'strangers' took an interest in our lives.

We said our goodbyes a day or two later but have stayed in touch with them since. They no longer travel but love hearing our stories. We are looking forward to returning this favor one day to another honeymooning couple. Pay it forward!

Lovethecabin

This was committed by my father –

Mid to late 1980s on a flight from JFK to Berlin. I was a teenager, probably 14-15 yo at the time. My parents were sitting next to a woman in the US Army and her newborn baby. For reasons I don’t remember, she flew back to the States to have the baby and was flying back to German where she and her husband were stationed. This baby could not have been more than a few days old.

When we landed, my dad made me carry all of the mother’s and baby’s carry-on bags while he dealt with their luggage, which was a massive pile since they were returning from the States. We stayed with her all the way through baggage claim, customs and immigration and until she found her husband outside of arrivals. I remember my dad insisting on pushing the luggage cart even after her husband arrived so he could see his new baby for the first time.

As a self-absorbed teenager, I was not happy about being put into service. As a more mature adult (and parent) I am proud of my dad’s actions. He was an Amry veteran himself and an all around gentleman.

By Mexican C&I –

While waiting in a very long C&I line at the Cozumel airport, I saw the official pulled out every family with babies and small children and take them through a special line so they didn’t have to wait so long. I thought that was great PR.

nmh1204

We don't have £100 notes in England. Scotland does, but it isn't legal tender in England.

ajGoes

July 9, 1966, Prague, Czechoslovakia (as it was then). My parents had arrived the previous afternoon in their new VW camper with my 14-year-old brother, my six-year-old sister, and me, aged 11. We were on our way to Moscow where my dad was giving a paper at a conference. The Polish consulate in the States had advised my parents to get their Polish visa at the consulate in Prague, so that was our first stop the next morning.

The consul noticed mom's birthplace, Łodz, Poland, in her US passport and asked when she had left Poland. When she told him the date -- sometime in 1946 -- he said "you're a defector. You can't return to Poland."

No amount of pleading or arguing could change his mind, so we went to find a professor for whom my mom had done a translation to see if he might have any ideas. (His name, very appropriately, was Kafka.)

We all huddled outside his apartment door while my mom rang and rang the doorbell. I hope my memory is right and that it was my insistence that she try again that led her to give it one more push, but whatever the case, this time Prof. Kafka answered the door and invited us in. He was quite deaf and had only noticed the light bulb rigged to the doorbell because he'd gotten up for some reason.

Prof. Kafka was leaving on vacation, but he insisted that our whole family should install ourselves in his apartment until we got our visa sorted out.

We made many trips to the main post office over the following week to make international phone calls to Warsaw, trying to find the right official to bend the rules. Finally my dad went back to the consulate. Finding the consul gone on vacation, he explained to the assistant consul that he was risking an international incident if his pettifogging prevented my dad, an eminent American scientist, from presenting an important paper at this prestigious congress. The visa materialized and, after ten days in and around Prague, we continued on our way.

Our family benefited from the kindness of strangers over and over on this and many other trips around North America and Europe, but our unexpected stay in Prague really stands out.

exilencfc

I'd like to thank the guard on my train from Sarajevo to Zagreb who not only explained three times that I needed to move to another coach (I don't speak Bosnian/Croatian) but also carried my bag there for me.

I paid it forwards by stopping an Australian couple getting off at the wrong Munich station and then seeing them onto their connecting train. But then I seem to spend a lot of time rescuing lost people on trains, the highlight being the couple I saved from being in Slovakia... We were on the overnight Budapest-Berlin train and the couple in the next compartment wanted to get off at one stop to smoke. They asked the carriage attendant in English how long the stop would be. His reply bore no resembelance to the information in the timetable so I went and asked him in German and then told our neighbours who had been under the mistaken impression that we would be there for 15 minutes instead of 3.

LGandaB

So many. People are nice to me!

I once took an overnight bus from Cluj-Napoca, Romania to Budapest. I didn't realize the ride would be so short, or that the drop-off point would be in the middle of freaking nowhere, so I found myself on the outskirts of Budapest at 4:30 am in the morning. Some other people from my bus walked me to the nearest metro station, but service didn't start until 6:00 am. I went to buy a ticket from the machines (as the window didn't open until later) and found it wouldn't accept the large(ish) notes I'd got from the currency exchange in Romania, so a man bought my ticket for me. He was returning home from studying in Cluj. When the service started he refused to leave me on my own (I would have been fine, to be honest) and rode the metro past his stop (where his girlfriend was waiting!) to show me where my stop was. I got off the metro and walked up to the road. I knew my hotel wasn't too far away, and I had a map, but I had to orient myself. I'd been standing there for MAYBE ten seconds when another guy walked up to me and said, "Where are you going?" I told him, and he decided to walk me there too! He was easily in Top 5 least-creepy men who have ever stopped me randomly on the street, we had a nice chat on my way to the hotel, and that was that.

Another time I was taking a bus from Berat, Albania to Ohrid, Macedonia. I had written instructions that said, "Tell the driver you want to go to Korce". The instructions neglected to mention that you were supposed to get off the bus twenty kilometers BEFORE Korce (I guess they assumed I would see the massive lake out the window, which I did, but I thought we were looping around to the Macedonian side or something...). It was definitely a bit of a culture-clash on this bus, as the other passengers were all Roma people carrying their wares, along with one woman and her profoundly disabled adult son. I started to get antsy once the lake was loooong gone, so I asked, "Ohrid? Makadonia?" and the driver was like, "KORCE!" I tried again, and they realized what had happened. The bus stopped and everyone happily waited by the road for a bus in the other direction, which our driver flagged down for me. He explained (okay, with a little bit of exasperation) what had happened, and the new driver let me on. Unfortunately I was out of Albanian money and only had a bunch of twenty-euro bills. I offered to pay the driver, but he wouldn't take any money. He said a bunch of stuff to the passengers on the bus in Albanian, and everyone smiled and nodded. When then drove back... PAST the lake again. I got a little freaked out and said, "OHRID! MAKADONIA!" and everyone was just smiling and nodding yes. So now we've passed the lake again in the other direction and we're up in some hills. We turn off the road and drive through a pass that's been carved out of the hills for a while, and suddenly I'm at a border crossing. Then a man on the bus points to a car, and tells me to go to the car. He's called his grandfather, who has driven over from Macedonia to pick me up and take me across the vehicle crossing. The entire bus has done this massive detour just for me. I probably cried with gratitude, and got in the man's car, and he drove me across the border all the way to my hotel in Ohrid.

In both situations I would have eventually been fine on my own, but the kindness of strangers just made everything happen so much more smoothly and with less frustration (and less expense). I always think about how kind people have been to me when I travel, and look for opportunities to pay it forward.

annieway

Today, I was returning home to Los Angeles from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Overnight flight from Brazil with about 1.5 hours to change planes in Houston (in retrospect I realize this is too short to get through immigration and customs and walk a mile to the next gate in Houston). On the overnight flight from Brazil I came down with a wicked migraine headache. Very rarely do I get migraines that result in severe nausea. This was one of those. Every time I attempted to become vertical, I threw up. About half an hour before we were to land in Houston, I could barely stand up and was severely dehydrated. I was beginning to think I was going to have to go to a hospital in Houston.

The nice man sitting next to me in Business Class offered me one of his prescription anti-nausea tablets which he carries for his own emergency use. Ordinarily I would not take someone else's prescription drug but both of us work for major pharmaceutical companies and were aware of the possible risks, and he had it in a clearly labeled prescription bottle stating it was for nausea, so I took it. Also, I was really desperate at this point. The flight attendant arranged for a wheelchair to take me to the gate for my next flight. There was no way I could manage to get myself there under my own steam.

So rather than end up under the care of a paramedic or in an ambulance, I figured I'd see how I was doing when I got to the next gate. The wheelchair attendant whisked me through immigration and customs (it helped that I have GE, of course) and I made it to my next flight just as it was boarding. By then the nausea tablet had kicked in and although I still had the mother of all headaches, at least I wasn't throwing up and I was able to get some water in me.

By the time I landed in Los Angeles, I had had a nap on the plane and I was miraculously all better. If that guy hadn't offered me the nausea medication I would probably still be sitting in an emergency room somewhere in Houston.

halfcape

What was the nausea medicine?

AppleApe

May 1989. I found out my girlfriend was cheating. I dumped her. Used my Pan Am
miles to fly to LHR to get away from a while. Sat in 5A windows seat.(Pan Am 747
had 5 rows in first class back then) A woman in a blue dress sat in 5B. We chatted
for a while. She kissed me and I was startled. She said "you look like you needed it"
and she was right. Somewhere over the Atlantic, she and I were "together" in the
lavatory for what seemed like hours(in reality, probably just half an hour) We didn't
exchange phone numbers or contact info. As of today, I don't even know her first
name, but her face is burned into my memory forever. I really appreciated her
kindness because it helped me get out the painful breakup.

annieway

The nausea medication was Zofran. I just googled it and it is pretty heavy duty, indicated for nausea due to chemotherapy (this is the only approved indication - of course doctors are permitted to prescribe for other indications) and it has an impressive list of side effects and warnings. I suspect some physicians would hesitate to prescribe it for the circumstance I found myself in, although it certainly worked beautifully for the nausea! Even if I had known about all the side effects at the time, weighing benefit/risk ratio, I would have still taken it. There is an impressive list of side effects you can get from treatment in an emergency room as well!

Disclaimer - I am not a healthcare professional, although I do work for a large pharmaceutical company and have been involved in clinical research from the quality and compliance perspective for many years.

CMK10

Mine involves a fellow Flyertalk, Jackal

Last year I wanted to do three things, see a Cubs game, take a train with my Father, and attend a screening of "Stop Making Sense" in Washington D.C. My Dad and I decided to take the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington. Jackal was going to meet up with me in D.C. for dinner as he was driving across the midwest. Unfortunately, the train became more and more delayed due to issue after issue. Eventually we were so far behind i was going to miss my movie. Jackal altered his entire itinerary and drove to rural Connellsville, Pennsylvania to pick me up and drove me the four hours to D.C. Hell, I was seeing the movie in D.C. with my brother who I've been close with for decades and even he admitted he'd never do something like that for me

thelark

...and I'm in regulatory affairs here to warn you to watch your language regarding off label use

Annalisa12

I was travelling on a tram with a million bags and got off and walked down the street to my destination. About 2 blocks from where I alighted two middle aged people quickly walked up to me out of breath. They handed me my handbag!!! I had no idea I had left it behind. When they saw I had left it behind they immediately jumped off and started to follow me to return it. They too were fellow travellers. American or Canadians. I couldn't thank them enough!!!

davie355

Dear Penthouse...

Mickidon

I have two, both of which started in a way that I was expecting rude, rather than extremely kind
treatment:

1. We were in a taxi van with our family near Dublin. Mid drive, our 3 year old daughter
vomited in the back seat, totally unexpectedly. The driver pulled over to the side of the road and I feared he was going to have a few choice words for us. Instead he said, in the most lovely tone, to please not worry about him at all and to just tend to our child. He said he had 7 kids and had seen it all before and he was close to his home, so he'd go there
after our drop off and hose down the car. It was just one of many reasons why we love Ireland as a destination for children.

2. Back in the paper map days, we got hopelessly lost in San Diego and had no idea how to get to our destination. We pulled in front of a house in a residential neighborhood and sat in the car, studying our directions, for some time. I noticed several people looking out of windows, wondering what we were doing there. About 5 minutes later, a woman, large German Shepard in tow, approached our car. I quickly told her we were lost, as I feared she was suspicious of us. She told us to wait for a minute, not really sure why. A few minutes later, she pulled out of her driveway in a car and told us to follow her.
This kind woman drove at least 5 miles to deposit us right in front of the restaurant we were seeking.